Do I need a new Amazon Fire TV voice remote?

Amazon is finally pressing all the right buttons

Amazon Fire TV is great. It's inexpensive and easy to use. But the one complaint I'd had over the years was that the remote control was less than ideal. You could use it to navigate through the Fire TV OS just fine. But if you wanted to control the TV's volume, or turn it off when you're done, you'd have to reach for a second remote control. (Or use a universal remote.)

That never has been an ideal situation, and it went on for years. Even with the release of the Amazon Fire TV Cube, its first device with the ability to control your TV via CEC, it still initially shipped with the old remote. And having to talk to your TV in the middle of the show just to turn the volume down was, predictably, a bad experience. But with the announcement of the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K came a new remote control, with buttons for volume up and down, mute, and power. (Plus and LED, because who doesn't love LEDs?)

This is now the standard remote shipping with the Fire TV Cube and Fire TV Stick 4K. It also is compatible with the second-generation Fire TV Stick and the third-generation Amazon Fire TV pendant. If you have one of those two devices, or purchased the Fire TV Cube before it began shipping with the new remote, I'd recommend upgrading.